Beauty on the Doorstep
by D4rKn3sS
Summary: After completing the First Trial, Dean finds a mysterious young woman on the doorstep to the Bunker, with nothing to indicate who, or what she is. Why has this woman come to him, and why is she so attached to Dean despite not having any memory of anyone besides him?


**Beauty on the Doorstep**

**Author's Note**: This story occurs during Season 8, when Castiel was being controlled by Naomi, and the Winchesters had just passed the First Trial. Yes this is a romance story, but not one you might expect. It's probably been done before, but that's not why I'm writing this.

* * *

**Discovery**

Cracking his neck sorely, Dean threw himself onto the couch with a long drawn-out sigh. His arms were killing him, and the couch was the most comfortable thing he'd seen all day.

"How's it looking?" came a voice behind him.

Dean craned his head back to see his younger brother walk into the lounge room, wiping his hands on a dirty-looking wash cloth. "Another week, probably. The brakes are still shot, and replacing the glass has been a bitch. I think some of the paint needs a rework too."

"Well, I'm going to check up on Kevin, see if he's got any more information on the trials. He'll probably be wanting more supplies anyway." Sam tossed the wash cloth back towards the kitchen sink, and heard it slap against the metal.

Dean grunted in response and put his feet up on the table. He could feel Sam giving him a dirty look for 'desecrating' the ancient piece of furniture, but he resolved to ignore it as he heard the door shut behind him.

He tried to reach for the remote in front of his legs, but it was just out of his reach. After a few half-hearted attempts he shrugged and gave up, staring up at the ceiling above him.

_Why is there nothing to do at the moment? Peace and quiet is nice at times, but this is just dull._

* * *

Dean heard a loud crack, one that sounded like the Bunker had just been struck by lightning, waking him up from his light dozing. Unfortunately he had been sleeping at an angle on the couch that being woken up by the sound had sent him crashing into the ground between the couch and the table. His legs landed up above his chest, while his head slammed into the table side, hard.

"Damnit…" He groaned loudly and picked himself up from the ground, cradling his head in his hands. "Every damn time…"

Looking over towards the front door, Dean rubbed at his head sorely and wondered what could have possibly woken him up. Seeing the time on the clock on the nearby wall caused him to roll his eyes in exasperation and look back at the couch longingly.

He contemplated going back to it for a moment, but he was already awake enough to not fall back to sleep so easily. The sound had come from outside the house, he was sure of that, and it wasn't likely to be Sam, who he tended to call first when he was coming back late to the Bunker.

_This better be wrong-delivered food or something. I could go for some pie…_

Since coming to the bunker Dean had figured out a way to get food delivered without compromising the intense security that the Bunker was covered in, though Sam wasn't happy about having others know about their location.

Dean stumbled his way to the door, looking through the spyglass suspiciously. He couldn't see anything beyond the darkness of the porch; to the point that he figured that he must have imagined the thundering sound.

"Must be that damn cat again…"

He decided to go back to the couch, but as he took his eye off the spyglass he noticed a strange glimmer from the bottom of his vision that didn't appear to belong.

The hunter frowned and reached for Ruby's knife in his jacket pocket. He'd made a habit of sleeping with at least one weapon of that caliber on him, and if this was something that was hunting the two of them then he felt he should take it out before Sam came back.

Besides, he had nothing better to do besides fix the Impala.

Demon-killing knife in hand, Dean slowly opened the front door after disengaging the many locks, fully prepared for anything possibly supernatural to come out from the darkness and try to tear his throat open.

He wasn't prepared for what he found.

Lying on their front porch was a beautiful woman wearing nothing but her skin, breathing ever so slightly as she slept peacefully on the scratchy doormat. She had oddly glinting smooth skin, and Dean couldn't work out whether he was dreaming or just imagining things.

He wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but he knew one thing. When things like this happen, you don't question it too hard. He'd seen enough to think that maybe good things do happen. He lowered his demon-killing knife, though he didn't quite put it away completely.

The naked woman was lit surprisingly well considering the single flickering porch light shining down on her body. She had long wavy brown hair down to her shoulder blades which covered part of her sleeping face, but Dean only gave that part of her a sideward glance.

Her body was as womanly as Dean could have imagined, but there was a strange cleanness about the woman's figure. There was no mark on her skin whatsoever, not even a scratch from lying on their doormat. It was as if she had just been whisked into existence.

"Well…this is certainly different," said Dean, not sure what to make of what was in front of him.

He looked around the front yard of the Bunker, seeing if there was anything to indicate how she had gotten to their front porch. All he could see was the normal yard that came up on the monitors inside, which only confused him further. If that cracking sound had brought her here, then either someone had delivered her here, or she had come to the front of her own volition. Either way, he wasn't going to leave her out there if she was someone he could help.

Underneath the lawns and the steps leading to the Bunker were layers of demon traps and sigils, so if anything overly suspicions encroached on their home they had plenty of warning. The fact that nothing had been activated was either a very good sign, or a very a bad sign, Dean couldn't work out which.

He couldn't smell any sulfur, which limited the amount of things she could be to very few, considering her appearance and they way she had arrived.

Dean looked back down at her sleeping form, taking a moment to think about it before he felt a blast of chilly wind hit his face like the last time he had been slapped. He clutched at his jacket and went to pull it off his shoulders instinctively, realising that she was probably freezing down there, lying naked in the cold night.

"Only one thing to do really," he said with a growing smirk, though he could almost hear his brother's voice in his head telling him off for even thinking about it.

He shook the voice in his head off and took off his jacket completely, "I wasn't going to…damnit Sammy…"

Dean was as 'gentle' as he could be, wrapping the woman's body up in his jacket and bringing her inside the Bunker. He resisted the urge to take a peek at anything that wasn't already on display, though he found it strange that while she put up no resistance to his effort, rather she seemed to clutch at his shirt like a young child as he carried her inside.

The woman's hair tickled his hands in a way that he didn't mind at all, to the point that he was almost reluctant to put her down on his bed. As much as he would have liked to just stand there and look at her, he had things to work out. For the time being, it was the safest place to put her, particularly if he was going to attempt to explain it to his younger brother.

Despite his personal interest, Dean pulled a blanket over the woman's naked body, covering her up to her shoulders. Her brown hair was tangled up near the pillow he had placed her on, but Dean pulled the brown strands back carefully so that it sat easily over the blanket.

"This is so far into crazy land... I can't even imagine how I'm going to explain this to Sam."

The naked woman in his bed groaned lightly and shifted her body on his bed, letting one of her long legs fall out from under the blanket off the bed.

With an awkward cough, Dean reached down and slowly pushed her leg back under the blanket. He cocked his head slightly and he took a step back taking in the image of what he had brought in from the front porch.

"Awesome…Sam's gonna to love this."

* * *

**Questions**

Dean was washing his hands in the bathroom when he heard the front door open, and then close a few seconds later. He glanced at his watch and sighed while drying his hands on a nearby towel.

_Well, this isn't gonna be fun. Maybe I can just claim…_

Sam's voice echoed through the house to their bathroom before he could finish his thought, "Um…Dean? What the hell?"

_Well that narrows down the list a little bit…_

Dean turned around with a sigh and walked out of the bathroom into the living room, "Now look Sammy, I can explain everything…"

When he got the living room he saw Sam standing with several large shopping bags in his hands. His younger brother was pointing to the large table with that condescending look that he would always get when he had a problem with something Dean did.

"We talked about this Dean. You said you weren't going to do that stuff in here anymore I'd like to keep at least a semi-professional environment."

On the table was Dean's laptop, with a rather explicit website open on the desktop displaying the type of Asian beauties that Dean always enjoyed looking at when he had the time.

Dean cocked his head for a moment, having not really expected that kind of problem considering the woman in his room. He thought about it for a moment before pointing to the laptop, "Okay, I didn't know that was still there."

"Even so," said Sam with an angry glare.

As Dean shut down his laptop sheepishly, Sam put the groceries he had bought into the kitchen.

"How's Kevin?" asked Dean, doing his best to move to the doorway between the living room and his bedroom. "Any word on the Second Trial from Kevin yet?"

"He said he's close, but he's been saying that for a while. The demon tablet is much harder to decipher than the Leviathan one was." Sam's voice came through from the kitchen clearly, even as Dean was trying to check on the woman on his bed. He was trying to be subtle in his own way, but all he could see was the top of her brown hair on his pillow.

_Damnit, she's messing up the memory foam…I knew I should have put her on the couch._

"Well, tell him to…you know…do stuff"

"Is something wrong?" asked Sam, with a frown. His brother tended not to act like that unless there was something on his mind.

Dean laughed awkwardly with a hand behind his head, "Nothing is wrong, why would you ask that?"

"Because you've been acting weirdly ever since I got back." Sam tried to glance through the opening to Dean's room. He couldn't see anything past Dean's body, but it was clear that he was hiding something from him.

Dean grimaced, but it was clear that he couldn't hide it from his brother any longer. "It's…a long story…"

"Dean, we had a deal when it comes to girls. Anywhere except the Bunker. This place is meant to be a secret." Sam groaned in annoyance at his brother's actions and turned back to the kitchen with a huff. "Make sure she's gone, and that she doesn't know anything."

"It isn't like that, Sammy," said Dean, trying to work out a good way of explaining what had happened. Everything that he kept coming up didn't quite explain how she appeared out of nowhere though, so he was in a bit of a bind.

He watched Sam disappear into the kitchen, wondering how low Sam's opinion of his socialising habits had become. Ironic though it might be, he hadn't even entertained that idea since coming back from Purgatory.

_I guess I've had a lot on my mind…particularly with the trials and Cas…_

Dean turned back to look in on the woman he had laid on his bed. From that angle he couldn't quite see her properly so he walked into his room, shutting his door slightly so that Sam couldn't look in.

"Now how am I going to…" Dean looked down at his bed with alarm, noticing that it was unusually well made. He tensed his hands when he realised that she wasn't in the bed anymore. "Okay…where did you go?"

He traced his eyes around the room quickly, firstly to see if any of his stuff had been touched.

_All my guns are still there, Purgatory blade…yep everything's there. So where is she?" _

Turning around with a confused look on his face, Dean saw the woman he had just met huddled in the corner of his room. She held up her knees to her face and appeared to be shivering. She was still naked and seemingly unaware that she was exposing herself.

"Hey, hey, are you okay?" asked Dean, trying his best not to look at her exposed flesh and failing miserably. "Aren't you cold?"

The naked woman stopped shivering when she heard Dean's voice, and almost immediately her eyes snapped open and she stared straight at his face. It such an intense stare that Dean felt a shiver run through his body as her blue orbs bore straight through him.

He shook himself out of it and turned around so that he was able to form coherent words without staring. "Do…do you want me to give you some clothes?"

The woman stood up slowly from her seated position and straightened out her body, while still staring at his back. She continued to be completely silent, and after nearly a minute of trying his best not to think about her Dean wasn't able to stand it.

"I'll…I'll be right back…"

Dean did the only thing he could do in that situation. He fled the room as fast as he could, shutting the door quickly behind him.

Inside his room, the naked woman watched him leave with a vacant expression on her face. She figured he must have had something important to do, so she sat down at the edge of his bed and crossed her legs so that she was sitting comfortably. She placed her hands on her thighs and waited.

In the living room Dean paced from one side to the other, trying to think of what clothes they had on hand. He and Sam didn't have many clothes when they settled in the Bunker, though if his memory was correct there were some other clothes from the old society before they all died.

"Ah, that's it!" Dean rushed to one of the other rooms in the large Bunker they'd been living in, one that neither of them had fully scouted out yet. The Bunker was so extensive that it was like he was a fat kid in a candy store, each room held its own secrets and treasures for him to find.

And at this time, he knew what he was looking for.

* * *

Sam came out of the kitchen with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. He'd spent so much time going through the knowledge in the Bunker that he could barely see straight half the time. Driving to and from Garth's boat where Kevin was staying had been an enlightening experience.

_Still nothing about closing the Gates of Hell. You'd think that the Men of Letters would have had more literature on that area, but they seemed to have focused more on spellcraft and monsters. It's a shame none of them are left to help us. _

He walked into the living room just in time to see Dean running through the room with a long white dress between his hands. His older brother seemed quite happy with himself, and Sam could not figure why.

"Oi Dean, what are you…"

He stopped himself when he saw Dean disappear into his room, pushing through his door to leave just barely open. He hadn't heard a word Sam had said.

_Now I'm convinced he's acting strangely. _

His curious piqued, Sam snuck over to his brother's room without making a sound. He could hear some odd shuffling within his older brother's room, and for a moment he considered reaching for one of the blades within his pockets.

_If Dean is caught up in something, then I should…_

The decision was made for him as his brother's door swung open and Sam found himself staring at a beautiful brown haired woman wearing the white dress he'd just seen Dean run past with.

For a moment he wasn't sure how he was meant to take in the woman's appearance, she was too beautiful to be a call girl, that fact was only compounded as he could see the image of his panicking older brother in the background.

"No wait, you can't just…"

The blue eyes woman looked over Sam with a curious expression, looking at his face for a few seconds before nodding respectfully and walking past him with a warm smile. Sam turned to watch her gracefully walk into the living room, her bare feet not making a single sound on their carpet.

He turned back to see his brother standing in the doorway with a flustered expression on his face.

"Something you want to explain to me?" asked Sam, crossing his arms with a deep frown. There were many explanations he could think of, but none of them were particularly solid excuses.

Dean stared at his brother and opened his mouth to give an explanation, but nothing came to his mind. To Sam he appeared to be captivated in the image of the woman slowly sitting down on the couch, crossing one leg over the other and staring at a painting the Men of Letters had hung up before the organisation's destruction.

"It's not what it looks like," said Dean, though Sam didn't believe that for a second. He shut his bedroom door behind him and pulled his little brother to the other side of the living room.

"What's going on, Dean?" asked Sam, hoping his brother wasn't caught up in something worse than what they usually dealt with.

* * *

"So nothing worked at all?"

Dean shook his head, taking a quick glance at the beautiful woman who was occupying herself by poking a small plant that Dean had been taking care of.

"Holy water, Borax, silver, nothing. She's nothing we normally hunt. I made sure she didn't know I was testing her, but there were no reactions whatsoever."

"Dean, women don't just appear on your doorstep without any clothes on. That kind of thing just doesn't happen unless it's some kind of trap, or a really bad porno." It wasn't the first time they had encountered something they couldn't identify, it was almost par for the course for them, and Sam knew that Dean was aware of that fact. For him to bring her into their Bunker, into their safehouse, he must have sensed something about her that set her apart from the other people they had met in their travels. Dean's judgment was usually spot on when it came to that kind of thing.

"This could be the one exception. Don't you think we deserve something good to happen for once?" Dean shook his head as he heard what he had just said, even for him that was a stupid thing to hope for. Anything that seemed like a good thing always had a caveat in their case.

"Does she have a name?" asked Sam, hoping that his brother's instincts weren't going to lead them into another problematic situation. Women around them tended to be trouble, even when they were on their side. If anything, that was worse.

Dean shrugged in response to his brother's question, "She hasn't said a word yet. She seems harmless enough though, I doubt she's going to grow fangs and devour us in our sleep."

Upon hearing that the woman stood up slowly from the couch she had sat back down on and turned around, walked over to stand in front of Dean and Sam.

"Are you okay?" asked Dean, unsure how friendly he should be with her considering Sam's misgivings about the situation.

The woman's blue eyes stared at him intensely, "I am fine."

The brother's eyes both widened at her surprisingly soft voice, it seemed out of place with her serious eyes. There was something about the way she annunciated each word that felt oddly familiar to them, but they couldn't quite place it.

"Not to be rude…but who are you?" asked Sam, looking up and down the woman curiously. "Do you have a name?"

The woman looked down at her hands for a moment before rubbing them together like she was reliving the sensation of feeling her hands for the first time. "I…had a name. I know I…but I can't remember it."

"Well it's okay," said Dean, seeing how distressed she seemed to be at being unable to remember something so simple as a name. "Do you know us at least?"

Her face lit up at the question and she turned to Dean with a warm smile, "Of course, Dean. I could never forget you."

Dean grinned at that and turned to Sam with a smug look, "Well, ain't that something?"

"What about me?" asked Sam, not wanting to think on the kind of impression that his brother would have made on her to cause her to look that happy.

She turned to the younger Winchester with a confused look in her blue eyes, "I'm sorry, but you do not feel familiar to me. Are you an associate of Dean's? Perhaps another hunter?"

Sam sighed and rolled his eyes, of course that was going to be her reaction, "You could say that."

"I'm sorry if I've caused you discomfort," said the woman, wavering slightly on her feet as she began rubbing at her legs sorely. "I…didn't know…where…"

She appeared to be struggling to keep standing, as Dean was forced to shoot forward and catch her before she fell to the ground. For how serious her eyes were, she felt quite fragile in his arms.

The woman smiled weakly and clutched at the sleeves of his shirt like a small child, "Sorry for the…but I'm so…"

"It's okay, I understand," said Dean, picking her up carefully while cradling her head on his shoulder.

Sam frowned at the scene, looking at the woman who appeared to have passed out in his brother's arms. "What are we going to do with her? She seems to know you, but we can't just leave her here."

"I'll put her back in my room for the time being, but she doesn't seem like she's here to harm us."

Sam watched his brother take her into his room, still questioning his brother's motives. "We don't know who, or what she is, Dean. I'm going to see if I can find something to get her memory back. In the meantime, don't get too attached. If she's some kind of monster, you know what we have to do."

Dean nodded in agreement as he laid her back down carefully onto his bed. He had no idea why, but she seemed strangely comfortable in his presence, and when he covered her in the blanket he could see her eyes following his body's movements carefully.

"Am I being a burden?" she asked in a tiny voice, clutching at the blanket he'd given her tightly around her shoulders.

Dean looked down at her with an awkward smile, "It's no trouble. You get some rest, and come out to us when you are ready, okay? You need to take it easy."

She nodded and closed her eyes, trying to will herself to sleep. Dean smiled wider and then mentally smacked himself for thinking what he had been at the time.

_The job, Dean. Keep it together. Focus on the problem. _

* * *

**Calling for Help**

A few hours later Dean was sitting on the couch watching cartoons on television, while Sam was going through the library to see if there was a spell that could help her get her memory back. Without the knowledge of what she was, there was only so much he could look up. Both of them were sure she was something beyond human, but they had no way of explaining that feeling.

Dean chuckled to himself at what was on the cartoon, finding it relaxing despite their current predicament. He felt like he should check on her in a few minutes, but not until the cartoon was over.

He knew his priorities.

From behind the couch, the woman slowly made her way into the room. Instinctively Dean turned around without quite knowing why, watching her walk around the couch, tracing a hand on the leather. She was still wearing the long white dress he had found for her, though Dean noticed that she still wasn't wearing anything on her feet at all or underneath the dress, despite Sam finding her other clothes to keep her warm. It was practically scandalous.

She appeared to float on her feet, barely touching the ground as she came around and slowly sat down beside Dean without a word. Their couch was quite large and there was plenty of space on both sides of him, yet she chose to sit right beside him to the point of their legs touching.

Dean didn't recoil at the touch, it was quite pleasant actually, and there was no reaction on the woman's face besides the usual stoic expression she seemed to wear on her face. That in itself was endearing to him, but he kept that observation to himself. He didn't want to make a bad impression.

"Ah…um…sleep well?" Dean found himself strangely awkward in her presence, though at the same time there was something strangely comforting about her just sitting there as well. It wasn't something he had experienced in the past.

"Sleep has been elusive," she said quietly, placing her hands on her legs as if not sure where else to put them. "I close my eyes and try to sleep, but it doesn't happen. Perhaps there is a problem with my brain. It does not seem to want to rest."

_This woman gets weirder and weirder. That speak pattern is just bizarre._

He continued watching the cartoons on the television; though out of the corner of his eye he could see the woman's fatigue clearly developing on her face.

_I guess she must still be exhausted. What has this woman been through?_

He smiled to himself, and then froze stiffly as he felt the woman's head slowly fall onto her shoulder. Dean turned slightly to try and see what she was doing, but all he could see was the woman's brown hair strewn over her shoulder, with her hands lightly clutching at his arm.

"What…what are you doing?" he stammered, unsure what to do. They still hadn't determined what she was, but he found it hard to believe she meant them hard judging by how she was acting. If she wanted to seduce him, she wasn't doing it the way he would be expecting her to. With her body, she could probably just ask him and he would say yes, but what she was doing seemed almost…normal.

Not that he was against her actions; it was nice to just sit with someone for once. He almost never got to relax like that.

She didn't respond to his question, and upon closer inspection he saw that she was fast asleep on his arm, even drooling slightly on his sleeve. He could hear her soft breathing, slow and methodic as she slept peacefully, not a care in the world.

"As if this couldn't get any stranger…"

"Isn't that sweet…" came Sam's amused voice behind the couch. "It looks like you've made a friend."

With one arm trapped under the woman's sleeping form, Dean could only wave off Sam's concern with a single hand. "Don't look at me; she did this on her own."

"Dean…"

"Doesn't give me that look," said his brother, even without being able to see Sam's face. He knew his brother too well. "I haven't touched her."

He heard his brother's scoff, but ignored it as he saw Sam walked around next to the television.

"Well anyway, I thought of an idea. We should call Garth to come and look at her."

"Do we have to?" asked Dean with a groan. "I don't want him to mess up our pad."

Sam stared at his older brother with a raised eyebrow, "We don't have much of a choice, Dean. Women don't just appear out of nowhere like that. She clearly isn't a demon, or any kind of supernatural monster we've seen so far, and he's the most knowledgeable on the topic. He's helped us in the past on this stuff."

Dean looked down at the woman sleeping on his shoulder for a moment, before letting out a long sigh and running his free hand through his hair. "Fine. But he's not allowed to go into my room."

"I'll make the call." Sam pulled out one of his phones and went to punch in the numbers. It was a strange sight to see someone so attached to Dean for no apparent reason, though taking a glance at the look on his brother's face he wouldn't say it was a bad thing.

_I just hope you don't get too attached to her, Dean. We have a track record with this kind of stuff. This probably won't end in happiness._

* * *

There was a loud series of knocks at the door that night, causing Dean to jump out of his sleep with a violent jolt. Without realising it he had fallen asleep on the couch while watching cartoons, his head leaning on the cushion that had been mysteriously placed behind him.

He felt a strange warmness on his legs, and when he looked down he saw that the woman had moved from his shoulder onto his lap. Her brown hair had fallen down to touch the front of the couch, tickling the side of his legs. Her small hands were clutching at his pants tightly, and looking down at her Dean was thankful that her head was only on one leg.

Behind him he heard Sam emerge from the library, yawning loudly. "You gonna get that?"

Dean craned his neck back to look at his brother before using his free hand to point at the sleeping woman on his lap, "As you can see, I'm a bit stuck."

His younger brother stared at him tiredly before motioning to the door, "Well, unstuck yourself. Leave her on the couch, that way we can talk to Garth before he sees her, or she sees him."

"It isn't going to be easy," said Dean, trying his best to get up without waking her. The woman's sleeping face looked so peaceful he felt terrible at the thought of waking her up, each attempt he made to move his legs resulted in her grip tightening.

_Okay, this is impossible. _

With as much care as he could, Dean placed his hands around her head and attempted to move her into a more comfortable position on the couch. The moment his hands touched her cheeks, her eyes slowly opened and she made a groggy sound as she looked up at his face.

"Sorry…" was all Dean was able to muster as an excuse; her face looked far too innocent for him to do anything except feel like a villain. "It's…err…night."

She stared into his eyes for a few seconds before seemingly nodding and pulling up her head so that he could get up from the couch. When she was out of his way she gave him a small smile before closing her eyes and leaning her head back down to where he had been sitting.

Dean couldn't help but smile back before looking down at his pants and feeling a pang of embarrassment. He turned away from her and walked around the couch quickly so that she couldn't see him.

_I need to have a cold shower. _

He looked up to see his brother giving him his usual amused look. Dean pointed at his younger brother accusingly before moving past him towards the door.

"You saw nothing," he said as he reached for the handle to the front door.

Sam chuckled behind him, "So you say."

The two brothers opened the door, holding their breaths in anticipation. It was always good to be cautious when it came to their guest. As they undid the locks and the door swung open, they saw their companion standing in the doorway with a wide grin on his face.

"Heya fella's!" said Garth with his usual boisterous tone. He wore a long grey trench coat and had a pack on his shoulders, though the two brothers were still drawn to the cap on his head first.

"Thanks for coming Garth," said Sam, indicating for him to come inside. "It's like I said on the phone, we don't quite know where to go from here."

"Definitely sounds like our kind of thing." Without any warning Garth reached out and embraced Sam in a tight bear hug, causing the younger Winchester's breathe to shoot out of his lungs.

Behind him, Dean let out a chuckle at his brother's pain. It was short-lived however as Garth released his brother and sped towards him faster than any demon they had fought in the past. Before he could react, Garth had him in a tight hug, one that he couldn't break despite his best efforts.

"Every damn time…" he said, groaning in exasperation as he was released. "Seriously Garth, you need to find a new way to greet people."

Their informer grinned wider and tugged at Bobby's hat shyly, "It's great to see you guys again." He took a glance at the inside of the Bunker, his eyes widening as he recognised some of the ancient books on the shelves within. "You really hit the jackpot here, didn't you? Is that the Compendium of Anchorage? Oh, and the Legionnaire Dynasty?"

"Garth, please concentrate on the problem at hand," said Sam, shutting the door behind the excitable hunter. With the key in hand, he made sure that each lock was secure, so that nothing could get past their defences. If the Bunker was breached, there was no telling what could happen.

Garth gave him a happy stare, seemingly unable to actually show frustration that all this knowledge was in front of him and he wasn't allowed to absorb it immediately. "Of course. Where is the mystery…"

His voice trailed off as they heard a loud ringing from his jacket. Garth rifled through the phones in his many pockets for a moment before picking out a white one and coughing to clear his throat.

Behind Garth, Sam turned to Dean at a whisper, "I thought we made it so that phones didn't work in here?"

His older brother shrugged in response, he had no idea how he was doing it. It wasn't the first time Garth had surprised them.

"This is Agent Balm," said Garth in a surprisingly accented voice. He listened to the voice on the other side for a few seconds before nodding to the phone. "Yes, those are my boys. What seems to be the problem?"

His eyes unfocused as he listened to the voice quietly. He brought out a notepad and flipping to the appropriate page. "My authorisation number is…0411…556…99…4. No, that's quite all right. You have a nice day."

Garth shut the phone and placed it back into his pocket, coughing again to get his throat clear. He turned to the brothers with his usual grin, "Sorry about that fella's. The job never stops, does it?"

Sam and Dean both looked at each other with raised eyebrows, both seeming to have thought the same thing.

_Was he trying to do Bobby's accent just now?_

"So, where is she?"

The two brothers shook themselves out of their stupor and turned back to Garth.

"Well, she's asleep right now, so you'll probably have to wait until she wakes up." Sam pointed to the couch, "In fact, she's been sleeping quite a bit in the past two days."

Garth looked over to the couch with a curious look, "And no indications as to what she is? You're sure that she isn't human?"

"Looking like that? One could only hope."

Both Garth and Sam turned to stare at Dean, who didn't seem to have realised that he was the one who had said it. All he could do was put up his hands, as if unable to believe what he had just said. He motioned for Garth to check her out on the couch as he snuck away towards the shower. There were levels of restraint he couldn't quite reach.

"How long has she been sleeping?" asked Garth, glancing at her unconscious form on the couch.

Sam shrugged, "No idea, but more than what would be normal. She seems to only be comfortable sleeping when Dean is around or near his stuff, but anyone could see she is exhausted.

"Hmm…how strange. She doesn't look like a changling, and you said you already tested her with silver to see if she is a shape-shifter." Garth reached into his pocket and produced a different notepad than the one he had used earlier. "You sure she isn't human? She certainly seems like it to me."

"Call it a hunch," said Sam, turning as he heard the bathroom door swing open.

Garth watched Dean come back towards them, shaking his head violently to get rid of the water on his hair. He hadn't needed to have a shower, but the cold water on his head had helped calm him down. "Well I did notice a slight discolouration on the tips of her hair, but I can't quite place it."

Having just heard the tail end of the conversation, Dean gave Garth a confused look, "You what?"

Garth indicated down at the woman's head, "The tips of her hair, there is a slight greyness that wouldn't be common with her hair type."

The two brothers both gave Garth the same look, one of both surprise and suspicion.

"What?"

Dean shook his head and walked around the couch to make sure that she was still comfortable since he had left her. "That's really creepy, Garth. Why do you know that kind of stuff?"

"It's my job, Dean; of course I know that kind of stuff." Garth shut his notebook and put it back into his jacket, "Besides, it's the same discolouration you've had for the past little while, since you came back from Purgatory."

"Say what?" Dean immediately tried to find a thread of his hair long enough to look at, but unfortunately his hair was too short for him to be successful. "Damnit…"

Sam cocked his head slightly as he looked at his brother's hair, "You know, now that I think about it, it does look a little bit greyer than before you killed Dick."

Dean glanced back down at the woman sleeping peacefully with her hair strewn across her face, "Does that mean…she's from Purgatory?"

"Maybe." Sam turned to Garth, who seemed unconcerned by the revelation. "Do you know anything else we could use?"

The new Bobby shrugged with an apologetic look, "Sorry, I can't think of anything else. If she's from Purgatory, she's beyond my knowledge. You'd have to have someone of experience have a look at her. I can't think of anything else I can do for you guys at this time though, sorry."

The two brothers shared a look, one that they tried to hide from Garth and failed. He shrugged at being ignored and pulled down on Bobby's hat slightly.

He went to ask them a question, but jumped as heard a phone ring from his jacket. He rummaged around in his jacket before producing a dull grey phone. He put a hand in apology to the brothers and turned around to speak into the phone.

"What? I can barely hear you. No, no…don't yell, I can hear you now. What do you mean the spiders are singing 'La Ritournelle'? The walls aren't laughing at you!"

Garth put his hand on the phone and turned back to the Winchesters, "Sorry guys, I've got to take this. The Djinn this guy is hunting sounds like it's really giving him a hassle."

"Yeah, thanks for coming, Garth," said Sam, offering him a hand to shake. To his surprise, Garth took it without question, though he suspected he didn't hug him because his other hand held the phone.

The strange informer nodded to Dean at the other side of the couch before putting the phone back to his ear and moving towards the door, "What was that? Uruguay is a popsicle? No, no, you need to find a silver knife coated in…calm down, the green isn't out to get you!"

The brothers watched him undo the locks on the door with his free hand and leave the Bunker. They had no idea how he had worked out how to undo the locks without them telling him, but Garth had always had a knack of doing the unexpected around them.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Sam, locking the door again behind Garth. "If she's from Purgatory, she could be like Eve."

"Oh no, she's definitely gone. This woman is nothing like her." Dean shivered when he remembered their encounter with the Mother of All. He'd do anything not to have that experience again.

Sam wasn't so sure, there were some similarities. "We need to get some kind of information on the other parts of Purgatory. Maybe there is something in the library here that can help us, now that I know what to look for."

His brother reached down carefully with one of his hands, brushing aside a few strands of the woman's hair out of her face. It was hard for him not to concentrate on how peaceful her face looked while she slept, though the knowledge that she came from Purgatory caused him to question why he was so concerned about her.

_Did you get stuck there the same as me? I guess you've been through a lot, huh?_

As he remembered his own time in Purgatory, an idea struck his mind. It might be able to work, though selling it to Sam would be a difficult task. The trick would be bringing it up without causing an argument.

After a few minutes of trying to think how he was going to bring it up, Dean looked up to see his younger brother walk back into the room with the catalog of books in his hands.

Sam let out a short sigh and shut the book before staring at his brother, who was still kneeling besides the sleeping woman. "Why are you so attached to this woman, Dean? Do you recognise her from your time in Purgatory?"

His older brother shook his head, standing up and moving around to lean on the back of the couch, "I don't know how to explain it, but there is something about her that feels really…familiar."

Sam raised an eyebrow suspiciously, "Something you aren't telling me?"

"It's not like that," said Dean quickly, waving a hand to dismiss his brother's concern. "I don't know how to explain it…but she feels like someone who was close to me."

"Well, I thought of an idea, but I don't know if you'll like it or not." Sam discarded the book on the nearby table and pulled out a phone from his pocket. "I think you should call Benny."

"What?" Dean wasn't sure whether his brother was messing with him or not, he still remembered the conversation he'd been forced to have with his friend that cut off their communications. "What happened to concentrating on the job?"

"This'll probably be the exception Dean. He knows more about Purgatory than either of us, and the only other person we could turn to would be Crowley."

"Not on my life," said Dean angrily. Considering all the hassle they had suffered with Crowley he would rather chew his own arm off than ask for his help again. "But why would you suggest that? I thought you hated the idea of working with Benny."

Sam gave his brother a short stare; he swallowed what he actually wanted to say and indicated down to the sleeping woman, "Considering the circumstances, I'm willing to compromise. If she is what we think she is, she might be important for our cause."

"Or a giant hassle, right, I get it." Dean looked back down at the woman, seeing her move slightly to lean on her hands while she kept sleeping on their couch. "He won't be happy. He hated Purgatory more than I did."

_I guess it wasn't hard to bring up after all. _

* * *

Before he even heard the knock, Dean opened the door to the scowling face of his vampire friend. Unlike fictional stories, as a vampire, he didn't require an invitation to come inside, but Benny wasn't going to do that until he and Dean had the conversation he had alluded to on the phone.

"Long time," said Benny casually, his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Yeah," said Dean awkwardly, feeling a pang of guilt at how their friendship had ended previously.

The vampire stared at the hunter with a look that Dean recognised whenever Benny had an issue with a plan of theirs when they were in Purgatory.

"Is this how it's going to be? You are going to act like nothing happened between us?"

"It's like I said on the phone, it was the only way to reconcile with my brother. I had no choice."

Benny frowned and squinted his eyes in frustration, "I thought we were companions, Dean. The stuff we went through in Purgatory, that ain't a bond that should be so easily tossed aside. I understood why you said you were done, I knew that was coming. But coming back…"

"What would you have me do? Sammy is family; I couldn't run out on him." Dean motioned for Benny to come inside, "As I said on the phone, we believe that she was from Purgatory. Nothing seems to make sense, and we figured you would know more about her than us."

"And why should I be doing that, huh? Seems to me that your brother would be happy to stick a knife in my belly for even talking to you." Benny refused to move from his spot, he still hadn't heard a good enough reason to risk going into the Bunker.

Dean reached out and placed a hand on his old friend's shoulder, "I don't know how to explain it, but this thing goes beyond the two of us, Benny. I know you are hurting, I really do. I wish I hadn't been forced to do that, but I need your help here, and I promise nothing will happen to you."

The vampire glared at him again, but he couldn't read any lies in the hunter's eyes. He had learned to trust the elder Winchester a long time ago, and despite their parting he still felt a comradery with him.

It wasn't like Benny had anything better to do with his time, and Dean had promised to put him in contact with a good blood donor bank. It was a compromise, but it meant it was worth the vampire's time, since he was almost out of blood again.

With those things in mind, Benny decided to help the hunter and entered the Bunker cautiously, wary that he was walking into a place where his kind were not welcome in any capacity.

* * *

As Benny walked into the living room, he could see the look Dean's brother was giving him from behind the couch. It didn't seem to be hatred, though he found it difficult to read in humans that knew about his true nature. Hunters were particularly prejudiced.

The vampire peeled off his jacket and placed it on the back of a chair before rolling up his sleeves, "So, where is this woman you say is from Purgatory?" Benny hadn't heard of other creatures escaping that hell, so he was curious as to what kind of beast they had managed to snare.

"She's asleep on the couch," said Dean behind him, giving his younger brother a quick look to make sure that Sam wasn't going to change his mind halfway through.

The three of them heard a small groan before they saw the woman slowly pick herself up from the couch, rubbing at her eyes tiredly as she looked around the room. She seemed to pass over Sam completely before her eyes found Dean and she smiled comfortably, not even noticing Benny's presence.

The vampire turned to Dean with a half-cocked smile, "She's a pretty thing."

She ran a hand through her hair, attempting to fix the hair strands that had become tangled in her long period of sleeping. "What is going on?"

"So he got out then?" Benny chuckled and leaned on the chair with his jacket over it, flexing his hands sorely, a habit he'd adopted since returning to mortality. "I must say, this one is much prettier than the last."

The Winchesters both gave him the same look; they had no idea what he was talking about.

Someone sensing this, Benny looked over at Dean with a raised eyebrow, "Wait, you don't know? How could you not? The two of you were so damn close it should be obvious."

"Cut to the chase, Benny," said Sam, tapping a finger on his arm impatiently. "Who is she?"

"Let me put it this way, she's someone you've known for years." He turned to Dean with a smirk, "How you don't see the bright glow is beyond me."

The woman appeared oblivious to the conversation, running a hand along the edge of the couch like it was the most fascinating thing in the room.

"Enough…wait…" said Dean, unable to take his gaze from the brown haired woman. When he thought about how she spoke, and how she came to him with that sound, he found himself agreeing with the vampire, it was almost obvious.

_But that can't be right? We've already seen him since Purgatory. But there's no mistaking it…the way she interacts with people…the way she talks…the comfortableness around me but not Sam. _

_It has to be, there is no other explanation. _

Seeing his brother's confused face, Sam glared over at Benny as if that would provide him an explanation, but he couldn't read anything in the vampire's expression except curious amusement.

"Do you know who this is, Dean?" he asked, turning back to his brother.

The elder Winchester nodded grimly, though he could scarcely believe it. It seemed impossible.

"Yeah. So do you."

He took a few steps forward and extended an arm to the confused woman in the room, who still seemed oblivious to the conversation. She took his hand with a smile, rubbing her smooth fingers along his rough hand. Dean wasn't sure how he was meant to interact with her, but he felt like this much was still okay.

"Hey, Cas."

* * *

Sam took a double step back; that was absurd even for them. "Dean, this can't be Castiel. For a start, Castiel is a guy."

"I don't know how to explain it, but I'm pretty sure I'm right." Dean looked at the woman's face, as he looked closer he could tell that the eyes were the same. The look she was giving him was the same one that Castiel used to, before he 'returned' from Purgatory.

"We've seen Castiel though, not too long ago." Sam had seen some strange things when it came to their Angel companion, but this would take the cake if it is true. "We can't confirm that she is even like him, there isn't a way to tell if someone is an Angel or not besides maybe the Enochian sigil."

"So I gather she doesn't remember a thing then?"

Dean nodded to his vampire companion, "It looks that way. This isn't the first time Cas has lost his memory, but the female body is a new thing." Despite himself he looked up and down the woman's body, trying to work out what he was meant to say considering their earlier interactions.

She cocked her head at him with a confused smile, "What is a Cas? Was he a good person?"

"When he could, yeah he was." Dean smiled, it was easier to talk to her than it used to be with the other Castiel, though his head still hurt at the thought of her being a woman. The Castiel he was used to had a gruff voice and a trench coat. "But we need to help you get your memory back. Does any of this ring a bell?"

The woman shook her head sadly, "I'm sorry, but I…don't know. All I know is about Dean, and that I felt I had to come here."

Benny watched the interaction quietly, processing the situation in front of him. As he thought about it, an idea popped into his head. He turned to Dean quickly, "Maybe she'll remember if she touches something she used to own. Do you have anything of Castiel's? That might work."

Dean let go of her hand, "That's not a bad idea." He tried to think of something that Cas had given him, but nothing seemed to come to mind. The Angel was normally not one to leave belongings in their care.

Concerned over the look on his face, the woman reached out and touched his shirt near the shoulder, "Are you okay? There is a strange look in your eyes. Are you trying to work something out?"

Feeling her touch on his shoulder, an idea came to Dean like a strike of thunder. He smiled down at her and pulled away her hand softly, using the other to pull up his shirt sleeve. The burn marks had healed particularly well over the years, but they still stung occasionally, and considering his company it seemed like the most obvious choice. After all, she had given them to him.

She frowned slightly and looked at the hand mark on his shoulder, "Who did that to you? Was it a bad man?"

"Not at all," said Dean softly, placing her hand on the scar. "He was a very good man."

The moment she touched the red mark on his shoulder her eyes flashed a golden yellow for a second before she slowly removed her hand and took a step back from the hunter.

She closed her eyes, placing her hands together for a moment before smiling and turning to Dean, her blue eyes sending a slight chill down his spine.

"Hello Dean. It's been a while."

* * *

Dean took a step back, the shift in her demeanor was surprising to say the least. "Wait, you remember?"

"Of course, Dean. I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble." Castiel's eyes moved from Dean to his little brother, smiling in acknowledgement of the hunter's presence.

"Sam. How have you been?"

The female Angel turned and her eyes widened slightly as she saw the vampire she had been associated with earlier, "Benny. So you made it out? That is good to hear."

The three of them weren't sure what they were meant to say to her, it was remarkable enough that she had remembered so quickly. They shared a look for a few seconds before Dean decided to ask the question that was on all of their minds.

"Cas…why are you in a female body?"

She stared at him for a few seconds, as if trying to remember how it had happened. "I was in Purgatory, just after you and Benny had left. There was a group of Angels that had broken in to try and rescue me, but it was already too late."

The others stood and nodded in silence, they hadn't heard of how the other Castiel had gotten out of Purgatory, so anything she had to say on the matter was news to them.

"I was surrounded by Leviathans…they were so strong. I could see the Angels coming for me; they had broken in to try and free me…but before I could do anything one of the Leviathans had driven a hand into my chest. I was dead."

Sam shifted uncomfortably next to his brother; it was strange to hear someone talk about their own death with such detachment. "And you came back, right?"

She nodded grimly, "I realised long ago that my being resurrected was not a reward for my work, but a punishment. I won't be allowed to die until my work is finished, or everything is in ruins."

Castiel looked down at his lithe arms, still struggling to get used to the feel of it. "However my vessel had been obliterated by the Leviathans in Purgatory, so I was forced to attempt to take another one. That's why it took me so long to reach you; I had to find someone who would let me in. I knew you could help me recover the memories that I would lose taking a new vessel."

"So what, this is just another meat-suit?" Dean had to admit, he didn't have any complaints about the aesthetics of the new body, though he wondered why someone who looked like that would let an Angel take possession of their body.

She nodded, running a finger along one of her uncovered arms, "This vessel was a young woman on life support. I promised to take care of her family and keep them safe. She was a very nice woman."

"But hang on; we already met you after we escaped from Purgatory. In his trench coat and everything." That encounter had been unsettling enough, since that Castiel had been acting rather oddly, but this was on another scale.

The Female Castiel's eyes widened when she heard that, she hadn't been expecting to hear that. "Well that isn't me, that's for sure. He must be an imposter, or someone made a copy of me."

Both Dean and Benny could believe that, the Castiel they saw in front of them was very similar to the one that had accompanied them in Purgatory. He had the same look in his eyes, and once you've shed blood with someone you don't forget them any time soon.

Sam, however, was not so convinced. "How do we know you aren't the imposter? For all we know, you could be leading us into a trap. We have enemies in Heaven as well as everywhere else."

In a move quicker than they had been expecting, Castiel reached out and lightly placed two fingers in the middle of Sam's forehead. The hunter didn't rebel against it, but in the second she held it there he saw all the images of their shared past at once, including the memory of the Angel pulling him out of the cage. Despite not having his soul at the time, it was something he would never forget, and that was enough convincing for him.

She withdrew her hand and took a step back, feeling her white dress's silk lightly brush on her legs. "Now do you believe?"

The younger Winchester held his eyes closed for a few seconds; trying to process the memories she had reminded him of. He opened them slowly and nodded grimly, "He…she's Castiel. I believe it now."

"Thank you, Sam. I appreciate it."

"So, what are we meant to do?" asked Dean, not liking the idea of two different Castiels floating around in the world. It was difficult enough dealing with his emotions surrounding one of them, and with a female version it just messed with his head.

"The plan will be simple. I will summon the fake Castiel, and remove him. Otherwise, he will do bad things to people." She glanced over at the brothers, with her eyes focusing mainly on the elder Winchester. "To people I care about."

Sam and Benny looked at each other before nodding to each other. That wasn't the best plan in the world, but considering the situation it made sense. Removing the threat would make sense, but killing something could imitate the Angel was a frightening prospect.

"This is Castiel we are talking about though; he won't go down without a fight, even if he isn't himself." Sam looked over at the table where they had laid out some of their anti-creature weaponry. "We've only got the one jar of holy fire left."

"Let's hope we don't have to use it." Dean turned to Castiel with a small grin, "I'm sure we'll find a way to work it out."

Castiel shook her head and moved to walk towards the front door, "No, Dean, this is not your fight. I have to do this myself."

She went to summon her wings and disappear from the Bunker, but Dean reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder, forcing her to stay where she was.

"What are you doing?" demanded Castiel, not wanting to bring Dean into such a dangerous battlefield.

The elder Winchester didn't say a word, pushing her towards his room so that he could have a word to her beyond his brother and Benny's ears. Castiel had mentioned once that his bond with Dean was more profound than his with Sam, and there were things that occurred between the two of them that his brother wouldn't understand.

In the living room, Sam and Benny weren't sure what to make of Dean's actions. On the one hand neither of them particularly wanted to fight an Angel, particularly one that was pretending to be Castiel. But they also felt a compulsion to help Dean, who certainly wasn't going to let it go.

"So are you going to go now?" asked Sam, still uncomfortable with the vampire's continued presence.

Benny shrugged and put his hands back into his jacket pockets, "I made a promise to Dean. I'll see this through to the end."

"That's…noble of you."

"I do have some good qualities, you know. Not every monster is a monster."

Sam stared at the vampire for a few seconds before sighing and moving over to the table, picking up a blade Dean had talked about several times.

Benny's eyes widened as he recognised the oddly shaped blade the hunter had just picked up from the table. "Is that?"

"Dean said you might need it. He's been reconstructing it for a while. If you are with us, then you'll need something to fight with."

* * *

Dean shut the door behind him quickly, glaring at the new form of Castiel angrily, "What do you mean, you want to go alone? After all we've done together, all we've been through, and you think you'd be able to stop me from coming along?"

"This isn't your fight," said Castiel in response, placing one of her hands on her hips. "The other Castiel is my responsibility, and I won't have you get hurt because of my problem."

"What, like you did with the Leviathans?" Dean hadn't wanted to bring that up, considering their shared past with the creatures, but it was something that was generally on his mind. Castiel had suffered far worse than he had during that time, but it had been the Angel's fault ultimately.

Castiel dropped her eyes to the ground, she knew exactly what he meant by that. "That's why I stayed behind in Purgatory. I don't know why I was brought back again, but this is something I have to do on my own."

Dean snarled angrily and took a step forward, "Don't think I've forgiven you for that either, by the way. I had convinced myself that it was my fault that you were taken to that awful place, hell I was the reason you died in there!"

"I made a choice in Purgatory, Dean. I can feel that you are hurting, but that was not your responsibility. I am an Angel of the Lord, and there were things that only I needed to do."

"You had no right to make that choice! Do you have any idea how much I suffered because you had to do your 'penance'? I brought you in to take out Dick Roman…that was my choice!"

"So I should just take your word and follow along?"

Dean pointed at her face angrily, raising his voice, "You were my responsibility!"

She frowned slightly, her blue eyes unable to look into his angry stare. "You can't save everyone, Dean. Some beings are beyond redemption…"

Unable to contain himself, Dean put his hand on her shoulder, clutching at it with more force than he intended. "But not you! You can take your self-pity and shove it up your ass, because I don't need it. And neither do you."

"Why…" Castiel reached up and put her hand onto Dean's hand, wondering why he had made the gesture. "Why do you keep treating me this way? Haven't I caused you enough pain?"

Dean frowned and removed his hand from her shoulder, turning around so that she couldn't see his face. "Because I'm sick of losing you, that's why. I don't care if you are an Angel of the Almighty Fluffy Lord, or if you are as human as we are. You are a part of our lives, and I'm not going to let you kill yourself for some kind of misguided pride thing."

He picked up his jacket and put it around his shoulders. He looked around his wall for a moment before nodding and grabbing his Purgatory blade.

"There is nothing I can say to stop you, is there?" asked Castiel, watching Dean nod to himself before moving towards the door.

"Not a chance, Angel…girl."

He walked out of his room and nodded to Sam and Benny in the living room. Out of all of them Sam was still the most apprehensive about the plan, but he still armed himself with Ruby's knife and a jar of holy fire just in case. Benny hadn't commented on whether he thought it was a good plan or not, however Dean felt more at ease that he was going to come along.

"So how is this going to work?"

Dean frowned, he thought it was obvious. "Same deal as always, Sammy. Summon the creature, kill it, done and dusted."

"Except you are summoning an Angel of the Lord," came Castiel's voice behind him, emerging from Dean's room slowly. She still wore the white dress he had given her the day before, but Dean noticed she had put on a pair of his boots and was wearing his other jacket.

"That's my good jacket," said Dean, not sure how comfortable he felt with her wearing it.

Castiel nodded in acknowledgement and promptly ignored his comment, walking up next to him to face the other two of their group, "Even if he is an imposter, the other Castiel is still likely to be a powerful Angel of the Lord. We will need some sort of plan."

"How helpful are you going to be in this fight, Castiel?" asked Sam. "Are you in a condition to fight?"

"Seriously, Cas, that's my good jacket, I just had it cleaned," said Dean, trying not sound like he was pleading and failing miserably.

The woman open and closed her fists several times before nodding to the younger hunter. "This body is more appropriate for battle than my previous one. It is more lithe and acrobatic, and its reach is far better than…"

"Okay, okay, we get it," interrupted Dean quickly. As much as any of them he knew that once Castiel started describing something he wouldn't stop until he had described every aspect of it.

Benny cracked his neck loudly before turning to the door, "Let's just get this over with. My kind don't mix well with Angels, so this is awkward enough."

"I have no personal issue with you presently, Benny. I am…grateful for you assistance." Castiel's blue eyes stared straight at the vampire, and he was again reminded of how the Angel used to be in Purgatory. Though the exterior was very different, the look in her eyes was the same.

She turned to Dean with that sweet smile she would only show him, "And you, of course, Dean."

Despite himself, Dean blushed slightly and moved towards the door. "Yes well, let's just get going."

* * *

**Summoning**

Dean grinned to himself as he looked at the building they had just arrived at. The Female form of Castiel had recommended the place because of the familiarity she had felt towards it.

"This is kind of nostalgic," he said, opening the door to the warehouse where he and Bobby had first summoned the Angel, though they didn't know he was one at the time.

Castiel placed a hand on one of the defensive sigils that had remained on the walls since that day, "This is the best place to summon the imposter. If he has my memories, then he will also recognise this place and should come."

Benny and Sam filed into the warehouse and unloaded the items required for the summoning. Their female companion had stated that she didn't know what the thing impersonating her was, or how powerful it was, but considering the Winchester's encounters with it since Dean's exit from Purgatory, it was likely to be some kind of Angel.

"Are you sure you want to fight with us, Cas? What if he has some way of disabling your abilities?" She'd demonstrated some of the abilities that Angels were known for, and had stated that she would be fine to fight, but Dean wasn't so convinced.

Castiel watched Sam sprinkled powder into the pan that would summon the imposter, knowing that it would probably be some time after the spell's activation before their quarry arrived.

"For the last time, I will be fine. Give me the blade."

Dean frowned for a moment before reached into his jacket and producing an Angel blade, one they had acquired during their travels. They'd always concealed it from Castiel; He looked down at the blade in his hands, "How did you know I had this?"

The blue eyed woman glared at him without saying a word. It should have been obvious.

Dean put up his hands in mock surrender before flipping the Angel blade in his hand and offering it to her, "I suppose it's better in your hands anyway, being the fluffy Angel and all."

She took the blade and held it in her hand expertly, "I would hardly consider myself fluffy."

"No doubt."

Sam finished saying the ritual words and pulled out the jar of holy fire he had prepared. He didn't want to have to use it on Castiel, but if it all went south then they needed to have a backup plan.

"So what should we be expecting?" asked Benny, having propped himself up on one of the tables with his renewed blade from Purgatory sitting on his shoulder.

Sam turned to the vampire, still uncomfortable that they had to work together, "Almost anything. From what Dean has told me, we may have to fight an Angel."

Benny chuckled and tapped his blade in anticipation, "Sounds like fun. Besides, it isn't like I've got anything better to do."

"Well well, isn't this an interesting diversion?"

The group all turned at once to the odd female voice, their eyes widened at what they saw.

Standing on the other side of the warehouse were two figures. One the group didn't recognise, she seemed to be the one who had spoken. She wore a sleek business suit and appeared completely out of place with the scruffy-looking group.

The man standing behind her, was Castiel.

His appearance was not surprising to the group; they had expected him to arrive because of the ritual. However the woman was an unknown, and considering the cocky look she was giving the hunters and vampire they suspected she was an Angel as well.

Standing beside Dean, the Female Castiel stared at the male arrival, their identical blue orbs locking without a word being spoken between them.

With that exchange, she understood what the situation was, and how it had happened.

"Is that you Cas?" asked Dean, looking between the two of them quickly. He'd been convinced of her being Castiel since they'd had their conversation, but seeing the old Castiel in front of him was very disconcerting. It almost made him believe that he had been fooled by her for a moment.

The Male Castiel moved his gaze from his female counterpart to the elder Winchester for a few seconds before seemingly dismissing his presence and staring back at the brown-haired woman.

"Dean, he's part of me."

The hunter turned to her with a confused look, "What do you mean? Is he you or not?"

She clutched at her Angel blade angrily, "I don't know, but he's definitely a part of me. It feels like when I pulled Sam out of the cage. We are both Castiel, and yet neither of us are entirely Castiel."

"What, like he is your shell and you are the soul? That makes no damn sense, Cas. Angels don't have souls."

The other Castiel didn't say a word, but the look in his eyes was enough for Dean to understand the problem in front of them. He didn't get all the intricacies of the situation, he doubted he even could, but he had chosen a side already.

"Okay, so how do we…join…you guys again?"

* * *

Sam clutched at the jar of holy water, lighting the rag that he'd put in it before hurling it at Naomi with a grunt of exertion. He'd seen it work on Michael, so he was confident that he'd be able to remove her as a threat, at least for a short period of time.

The female Angel watched the jar fly at her with a complete lack of fear, reaching out and catching the jar in a single hand. She looked at the burning rag for a moment before tossing the jar over her shoulder, letting the holy water burst into flames harmlessly in the corner of the warehouse.

"Are you really so naïve as to think that'll work on someone like me?"

Sam glared at her in frustration, pulling Ruby's knife from his pocket. He knew that it didn't kill Angels, but it was better than nothing.

Sneaking behind Naomi silently, Benny slowly pulled back his Purgatory blade, aiming to take her head from her shoulders.

Unfortunately for him, the Angel disappeared from the spot, forcing his blow to strike thin air as she reappeared several metres away. The light haired Angel smirked arrogantly at her two opponents; she had no interest in fighting them properly. The battle between the two Castiels was far more intriguing, and instructional on how her bringing him out of Purgatory had resulted. He was a powerful tool, one that had brought her several victories.

_That woman would be fascinating to study, but I would prefer for Castiel to be at his full power._

Both Sam and Benny swung their weapons at her, but she easily dodged away from their attacks. For the moment she didn't need to give them the time of day, let alone fight them.

* * *

Female Castiel leveled the Angel blade she'd been given at her imposter cautiously. She hadn't said it to Dean or the others, but along with sensing the Male Castiel's essence it had become clear to her.

Only one of them was going to survive this encounter.

The Male Castiel was eerily silent, and even without looking at him she could tell that Dean was still extremely unsettled by the revelation of his true essence.

Without any warning, she shot forward and stabbed at his throat with her blade. In a flash of motion he pulled out his own Angel blade from his jacket and parried her strike easily. His speed was nothing like Female Castiel remembered, as his hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. He tried to wrench her forward so that he could drive his blade into her throat.

Female Castiel wasn't going to let that happen though. Using her other hand she grabbed at his knife-holding hand and kicked up with one of her knees, forcing him to drop the blade with a grimace of pain.

She tried to slash at him to take advantage of his being momentary disarmed, but he jumped back to avoid the strike, creating some distance between the two of them. He frowned as he saw her reach down and pick up his blade, holding it tightly.

With a single toss she threw it towards Dean, who fumbled slightly before catching it with a confused look on his face.

"What are you…"

"I need you to fight with me, Dean." Female Castiel held up her own blade, concerned that her opponent didn't seem fazed about his current predicament.

Dean stared at the Angel blade in his hands, still unsure at how he was meant to process this situation. "Cas…I don't know if I could…"

"If you don't help me here, Dean, you'll lose both of us," said Female Castiel. From that one exchange she could tell that in a one-on-one battle she would lose out in strength to her Male side, but she judged that she was still quicker than him. That gave her a chance.

Her counterpart leapt at her with his fists clenched, seemingly aiming to fight her with his bare fists. She tightened her grip on her blade and placed it in front of her, forming a plan of attack in her mind. Castiel hadn't considered herself an arrogant fighter, but if her Male side thought he could simply overpower her he had another thing coming.

As he came into range she jumped forward to counteract his charge, ducking under his punch and driving her Angel blade into his arm.

He grimaced in pain, feeling a blinding pain run up through his arm from the strike. Male Castiel grabbed at her wrist with a speed she hadn't been expecting, clenching it tightly before bringing back his head and slamming his forehead into hers.

She cried out in pain and let go of her blade, falling back and holding her head painfully.

Male Castiel glared at her as he wrenched out the blade from his arm, flicking his blood off it before glancing at it curiously. It only took him a moment to recognise who the Angel blade had originally belonged to, and while he still refused to speak he saw that it was one of the Angels who had died by his hand recently.

He moved the blade to his side and began running towards his opponent again, the wound in his arm already healed completely. His female counterpart appeared to have recovered from his headbutt and picked herself back up again, but without a weapon she seemed like far less a threat.

Before he could even cover half the distance though, he hesitated in his approach as he saw the elder Winchester stepped in between the two of them and leveled the blade she had taken off him.

"I know you are in there somewhere, Cas. I'm not going to let you touch her."

"What are you doing?" demanded the Female Castiel behind him. "He'll destroy you!"

Giving her a quick smirk, Dean put up his Angel blade defensively, "I've ganked Angels before. We take him out then you'll be back to normal, right?"

She came up beside him, breathing lightly from the previous exchange, "That's my hypothesis. The original vessel that he was brought back in will be destroyed in the process, but I should be beyond that Angel's control at that point."

Dean stared at the Castiel he had known for years, finding it hard to believe that he was no longer the one he had long since come to care about. Castiel was hardly an emotional being, so him being in a similar state to Sam without a soul wasn't too hard to believe.

Knowing that he had to fight him though, that was a different story.

He couldn't quite see Castiel as the villain she was portraying him to be, compared to the times when Castiel had actually been an enemy of theirs. Unlike when he was possessed by the Leviathans or being corrupted by the souls from Purgatory, this Castiel appeared to be as he always was.

The fact that he didn't say anything was pretty eerie though. It was like he was just a weapon.

* * *

Naomi watched the exchange with interest, even as she dodged the clumsy attempts by Sam and the vampire to attack her. They had neither the speed nor the weaponry to even concern her, yet they continued to flail against her uselessly.

As she moved her body out of the way of the vampire's strange blade she felt a tickle on her left arm, looking down to see a long gash caused by the demon-killing knife of Sam's.

"We are seriously outmatched," said Benny between heavy breaths. He'd never been much of a fighter, though his time in Purgatory had made him a harder opponent than most. "You lot don't have any more of them Angel stabbers, do you?"

Sam shook his head as he watched Naomi heal the wound he'd caused on her arm like it was nothing, "We only ever had the one. All we need to do is keep her away from their fight and hope that Dean can finish up quickly."

"Is that what you are trying to do?" asked Naomi, having disappeared and reappeared right in front of them. She had her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at them with an angry expression, "And what makes you think you can threaten me?"

Benny let out a snarl and swung his Purgatory blade at her head, but in an instant she caught his wrist and glared at the vampire's face. A quick twist of her hand and she broke his wrist in several places, forcing the vampire to his knees.

Sam tried to stab at her again with Ruby's knife, but the Angel appeared to have had enough of their little scuffle and she simply picked the blade out of his hand and buried it into his shoulder. He cried out in pain and dropped to the floor, clutching at the knife with his hands.

Naomi looked down at her fallen opponents with a look of pure contempt. "To think it was beings like you that stopped the End of Times. How pathetic."

She gazed over at the other battle, wondering whether she should intervene and finish it or not.

_That female seems to be connected to Castiel, so he should be the one to kill her. The Winchester, he is just a side note at this time. I see no need to concern myself with their fight; Castiel can handle this by himself. _

* * *

Dean swallowed his concern and went to protect the Female Castiel, but when he looked down at his hand he saw that his Angel blade was gone. He looked around for it frantically before realising that she had plucked it out of his hand and was moving to stand in front of him.

"Cas, what are you…"

"This is my fight," she said with a confident tone. She could see Male Castiel observing the conversation between the two of them with passing interest, apparently unconcerned as to her rearming. "I'm your guardian, Dean. If you were to die, then my life would no longer have a purpose."

Male Castiel's face twitched for a second upon hearing her declaration, and he traced his eyes from her face to his with a furrowed brow. He twirled the blade in his hand to a backhanded grip and held it up near his face like a trench-knife.

"Stand back Dean, please…"

While the hunter was humbled by her proposal, it just didn't sit right with him to let her do the fighting. Particularly since it was his fault that she was in this mess to begin with.

He clenched his fists at his sides and stepped forward to stand by her side. "How about you take the front, and I watch your back?"

Female Castiel frowned slightly, but she could see she wasn't going to be able to persuade him otherwise. With a small sigh she reached into the jacket she had taken from his room and produced a second Angel blade. She hadn't wanted to use it, but it was clear that there was no way to dissuade him from joining her fight.

"Where did you get that?" asked Dean as she handed it to him, feeling the blade's weight in his hands. It looked slightly different than the two Angel blades the Castiel's were holding, and felt heavier than the last time Dean had been holding one their blades.

"I stored it in your jacket when I killed Raphael, to keep it safe. If you'd known about it, you probably would have found it."

Male Castiel's eyes widened ever so slightly at the news that one of his opponents was now armed with an Archangel's blade. Before they could continue their conversation further, he decided that their time was up and sped towards them as fast as he could, disappearing as his wings were summoned.

The two of them halted their conversation and looked around for him for a moment before they watched him appear right in front of the two of them. Before either of them could react he slammed the hilt of his blade into Dean's face, sending him flying backwards into a nearby wall.

Female Castiel went to counterattack on his behalf, but her counterpart spun on the spot to avoid her blade's thrust and drove his elbow into her stomach, causing her to double over in pain. His foot immediately came up to meet her face, slamming her into the roof of the building before she landed painfully on the hard ground.

Female Castiel leapt back to her feet as soon as she could, but she saw that her counterpart was already taking advantage of her displacement. He appeared to be moving quickly towards Dean, clearly intending on finishing the job he had practised on Naomi's direction.

She bit at her lip and clutched at her blade, summoning her wings and disappearing into thin air.

Dean watched as the friend he had known for a long time ran towards him, clearly wanting to kill him judging by the look on his normally emotionless face. The Angel blade shook in his hand, he couldn't fight Castiel. Not just because the fight was out of his league, but while there had been a time when he had truly wanted to kill the Angel, their time together in Purgatory had taught him how much he valued the Angel's existence.

_Even if you are like this…I can't bring myself to do it. _

He looked up to see Male Castiel angling his blade to push it through Dean's chest. There didn't seem to be any strength in his legs, they refused to respond to his instincts telling him to roll away from the attack.

_Cas wouldn't do this. He'll stop himself. He has in the past…he has to now…_

The blade edged closer towards him as if in slow motion to Dean's eyes. The Winchester hunter closed his eyes, as if that would save him from his fate.

_I refuse to believe Cas would do this. He has to stop himself…_

The blow never came.

After a few seconds he opened his eyes to see an odd white colour in front of him. He struggled to pick himself up from the ground as he realised he was looking at the back of the woman who had started the whole adventure.

When he stood up however, he realised what had happened.

Female Castiel coughed violently as her outstretched arms clenched in pain. She tried to look down at the wound in her chest, but felt Male Castiel's grip on her face too tight for her to move.

His other hand had buried his Angel blade into her chest.

"No!" called out Dean, but he could see it was already too late. He tried to move around to break them up, but he already see the golden light building in her eyes and mouth.

Male Castiel made no expression as he murdered his counterpart, though Female Castiel was able to barely shift her head under his grip to get one final look at Dean.

With one of her hands she tried to reach out for him, but fell just short as the light grew brighter.

"Dean…help me…"

In a flash of blinding light and deafening sound, she was gone.

* * *

Castiel took in a long breath as the light dimmed in the room, his eyes flashing a golden colour before fading back to their dull blue colour from before. He brought up his unarmed hand and flexed it, feeling the restored power within.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds before staring at Dean across the room, analysing the array of emotions on the hunter's face. For a moment he felt a pang of interest in the human, but the commands of his master overrode anything he may have felt towards the Winchester.

All he knew was that he had a new target.

Seeing the Female Castiel disappear in a flash was almost too much for Dean to bear, who immediately started to have flashbacks of when Sam had thrown himself into Lucifer's Cage to stop the Apocalypse.

While he stared at the Angel in front of him, he could have sworn there was a tiny speck of humanity in the Angel upon their merger, but when he saw Castiel level his blade against him he knew that what Female Castiel had been worried about had happened.

He was still being controlled, and he was serious about killing him.

Dean wasn't going to let Castiel be controlled like that though; he knew how Castiel felt about someone giving him orders without a choice. The Archangel blade was very heavy in his hand, he was unsure on whether he could actually do it.

The decision was made for him however as Castiel appeared in front of him and slammed a fist into his face. Dean flew backwards into the wall and let out a loud cry of pain, falling to the ground painfully. He almost lost his grip on his Archangel blade, but Dean refused to let it go.

_You are truly gone, aren't you Cas? There isn't a way to bring you back, is there?_

The Angel moved to pierce through Dean's chest, with no hesitation in his movements whatsoever. Dean steadied himself and prepared to take the blow, holding his blade on the opposite side of Castiel's with his jacket slightly wavering on his shoulders.

The Angel's blow struck first, though Dean was able to twist slightly so it only clipped his side. Having resigned himself to the battle, Dean struggled through the pain and gripped the Angel's shoulder with his free hand, driving his Archangel blade towards his chest.

Castiel was able to bring up a hand to block the blow, but the power of Dean's strike went straight through his hand and into his chest as the two of them embraced like old comrades.

In that instant, the battle had been decided.

The two opponents locked eyes within the close embrace, all thoughts of the battle suddenly forgotten in that one moment of clarity. Within Castiel's blue eyes, Dean could see a tiny grey cloud slowly disappear and for the first time since seeing the Male form of Castiel he thought he was seeing the old Castiel he had come to care for.

Castiel's Angel blade fell to the ground as he looked down at his chest with a grimace of pain. As much as he'd tried to avoid it, the Archangel blade Dean had picked up was stuck hilt-deep into his vessel's heart, through his hand.

"I'm so sorry, Cas…I had to…"

The defeated Angel looked back up at his killer, feeling a strange sense of clarity for the first time in a long time. He struggled to bring up a hand to Dean's cheek, who to his credit didn't flinch at all at the touch.

Feeling the light build in his throat, Castiel found a tiny amount of strength to give Dean one final awkward smile.

"Sorry for the…trouble I…caused you…Dean…"

Light began to emerge from his mouth and eyes.

* * *

Naomi roared out in anger as she saw the light slowly grow from Castiel's eyes and mouth. She shoved Benny to one side and angled the Angel blade she had produced from her sleeve towards the two of them. She refused to be denied her most potent tool, particularly by such a lowly creature as Dean Winchester.

The bright light that shone through Castiel's eyes stared straight into Dean's face, taking far longer for the angel's essence to disappear than other Angels he had killed. The hand holding his Archangel blade shook intensely as he watched the light slowly turn to a slow dull black before disappearing completely in the Angel's eyes.

"Damnit Cas…what did you make me do?"

Behind the two of them Naomi charged angrily towards their position with the intent of obliterating the pathetic human that had just denied her of her champion, but she skidded to a halt on the ground as she felt a strange tugging in her vessel's navel.

Her grip tightened on her blade as she spun around instantly, recognising the sensation that she hadn't felt for a long time. Despite being an Angel of the Lord and a thoroughly divine being, all Naomi could feel was rage as she looked on the human and vampire she had just thrashed nearly to death.

Lying on the ground with a hole in his shoulder, Sam had a bloody grin on his face as he held a hand onto the ground in front of him. Behind him his vampire ally slowly picked himself up from the ground, snapping the wrist she had broken back into place with a painful grunt before grinning at the Angel as well.

Sam's hand sat in the middle of a hastily drawn Enochian sigil on the ground, with Naomi only barely able to let out a roar of anger before being hurled away to another part of the Earth, denied her vengeance.

Castiel fell limp in Dean hands while the two of them fell to the ground, Dean forced to his knees. He pulled the blade out of his friend's chest and let it fall to the ground with a loud clang, and all he could do was hold his body with bloody hands.

"You damn fool," he said, feeling a heavy weight crushing him down on his shoulders. "Why did you make us care for you if you were going to…"

He bit at his lip to try and hold in his feelings, but no amount of physical pain was able to stop him from cradling the angel's body like a mother carrying an infant.

At the other side of the building, Benny reached down and offered Sam a hand up, "On your feet, boy. This ain't over yet."

Sam glared up at the vampire for a moment before taking his hand and standing up slowly, "No…this is over. If Cas was still alive, he would have vanished when the other one did." He looked over at Dean with a deep frown, his heart going out to his brother's pain. He and Castiel weren't as close as they had been, but he still considered the Angel like a brother.

One look at Castiel's limp form was enough to tell that the Angel was gone, and the way his vessel sat dead in Dean's hands told him that the Angel wouldn't be coming back this time. From his memory, Castiel had never actually been pierced by an Angel blade, particularly an Archangel blade, before in a state that it could kill him in. Sam's heart broke when he saw the look on his brother's face, even as he grimaced and held at his pierced shoulder painfully.

"We shouldn't be here too long," said Benny behind him, gritting his teeth as he stared at the blood on the ground that had made the Enochian sigil. He could feel his fangs slowly drop down, but he was forced to hold himself back as his ally stumbled towards his brother and the dead Angel.

Sam stopped just in front of his brother, wanting to lean down to offer him a hand of support but all the strength had disappeared from his left arm. "Benny's right, Dean. She'll be back…and pissed."

His brother laid Castiel's body carefully on the ground before looking up at his younger brother. The light in his eyes seemed to have dulled to a darker shade of green, and his eyes were completely dry.

He just looked like he didn't care anymore. Even with his slumped shoulders and unclenched fists. Sam could see that his brother had been hit hard, and he wouldn't recover from it any time soon.

"Dean?"

His older brother struggled to pick himself up from the ground before looking down at Castiel's broken body. "Benny's right. We should go."

Sam reached down to pick up the Archangel blade that had killed Castiel, in the knowledge that Dean's eyes were following the silver blade intently. His eyes betrayed no emotions, but Sam knew that they couldn't leave something that powerful just lying on the ground.

"What are we going to do with the Angel?" asked Benny, feeling his friend's pain at the Angel's death. They'd fought enough together in Purgatory for him to garner a certain respect for him, even if he thought he was more of a burden than helpful. However he'd watched the Angel and Dean long enough to recognise the connection between the two of them, and he sympathised with his friend's pain.

_I watched Andrea die, even after she became the monster I've been holding back since I was turned. Now you were forced to kill him, after he was too far gone. How much killing must there be?_

The vampire looked up at the holes in the roof to the dark night sky above with a long sigh.

_This world's far too cruel._

* * *

Dean didn't say a word on the trip back to the Bunker. Even while driving along the road, with Sam in the front seat and Benny in the back, he had no interest in any of their attempts to initiate conversation.

"We did everything we could, Dean," said Sam, but his remarks fell on deaf ears.

"I don't think you're going to be able to get through to him, Sam," said Benny from the back seat. "You didn't see how hard it was back in Purgatory."

Sam frowned and looked over to the back seat, "I think I know my brother better than you, Benny."

The vampire shook his head with a sigh, "It ain't like that, Sam. You wouldn't…"

"Enough, both of you." Dean's voice cut through their argument and silenced the two of them immediately. "I don't want to hear another word about what happened."

"Dean…"

"Not another word, Sam." Dean clenched his hands on the steering wheel and stared at the open road in front of the Impala.

_I've had enough._

* * *

Dean slowly pushed the key into the front door, not even feeling the weight in his hand as the door opened. He didn't even notice that the door was already unlocked, though both Sam and Benny did.

Sam slowly drew Ruby's knife from his pocket, while Benny reached to bring out his blade from Purgatory. For something to breach the Bunker it had to be a being of immense power, since they knew the door had been locked beforehand and it was nearly impossible to breach by supernatural creatures.

The first thing they noticed when they walked into the main room was the strange smell that immediately struck their noses.

"You boys leave the toaster on?" asked Benny, tightening his grip on his Purgatory blade. From what they had told him about the Enochian sigil banishing it wasn't likely that it was Naomi, but Benny felt himself relishing a little payback for what she had done to Castiel.

Sam and Benny both prepared themselves for any kind of foe, but they stood in shock as they saw a strange image coming from the kitchen. Their blades fell slack in their hands, and they shared a look of complete surprise.

Standing in the kitchen was the white dress and apron wearing Castiel, with a wooden spoon in one hand and a spatula in the other. She was leaning over the stove closely, while the pan in front of her steamed up smoke to the kitchen roof.

For several seconds Dean could only stare at her back, unable to comprehend what was happening in front of him. He had watched her die, not just once, but twice. Yet here she was, without a mark on her.

Castiel turned around as she heard them come into the Bunker. Her clear blue eyes seemed to ignore the other two and hone in straight onto Dean's amazed face.

"The cow won't tell me when it's done. It keeps telling me I'm a horrible dictator forcing it into an unjustifiable cycle of hatred and slavery."

She went to turn around back to the hamburger she was failing to cook, but she was almost knocked to the ground as Dean embraced her in the tightest hug he'd ever given in his life. Her brown hair was tangled up in his face, but he didn't care as he lifted her up and nearly spun her around in a circle before letting her back down to the ground.

"I don't understand," said Castiel, her hands hanging by her sides. "Does hugging help cook the meat? Is that why the cow is complaining? Because I didn't comfort it enough?"

Dean chuckled happily and took his arms off her sides, "It's not…It's just…" He looked past her at the dead meat burning in the pan, unable to keep the smile from his face. A part of his sensibilities were offended by her lack of ability at cooking meat, but it was easily overshadowed by his sheer relief that she was there.

He moved her to the side and took a look at the pan, throwing the dead beef into the sink before rinsing it. "Cooking meat is a careful process. First you need to have the right spices…"

As he helped her begin cooking again, Castiel slipped an arm around his waist and leaned her head onto his shoulder, listening to him give her instructions on how to properly prepare a burger.

Back in the main living room, Sam could only shrug and turn to his companion with an extended hand, "I guess that's all for now. There doesn't seem to be any trace of the other Cas within her."

"Could you even tell?" asked Benny, taking the hunter's hand tentatively. Despite his question, the vampire had to admit it seemed like the situation was over, though it hadn't been how he'd expected it to be when he had been called in. "Does this happen often with you boys? Magical resurrections?"

"More than you would think." Sam let go of his hand and indicated to the door, "Don't think this means we will be working together again anytime soon though."

"Of course." Benny put his blade back into his jacket, turning to face the entrance. "One time deal, as we said. Can't be getting friendly with the monster-crowd, can we?"

Sam watched him leave, regretting that he had to do that to someone who was a seemingly reliable ally. They'd made a deal to focus on their mission, but even now he found himself thinking that may have changed. He turned back to look at the strange couple, wondering what he was meant to make of the situation.

_It isn't the first time Cas has come back, but this feels different. This feels…final. _

He couldn't see his brother's face, but judging from his body language his brother had made a massive turn around in those few moments since they had arrived home.

Sam felt a slow grin come across his face, as he pocketed his own knife and walked towards his own room. "Good on you, brother," he said at a bare whisper, disappearing into his room.

Dean and Castiel didn't notice Benny leave or Sam go into his room; they were too caught up in trying to make burgers for themselves.

Despite the past few days, he was happy for his brother. If anyone deserved a bit of a reprieve, it was him. He didn't know how long it was going to last, but he was determined to keep their happiness safe, even if only until the next crisis.

* * *

**Author's Note**: And that is the end of this little one-shot. I originally wrote this for my girlfriend, since she is a big fan of Supernatural and I liked the series as well. I didn't want to write Castiel as a male, because I'm not interested in that kind of stuff, but as a female it allowed me to explore the emotional connection between the two of them while introducing a physical relationship that I can speak from experience about.

I don't know if I'll write another Supernatural one, it really depends on the time I have and the motivation as well, I had pretty good motivation for this one.

If you have any comments about this story, feel free to give me a review and tell me what you think. I'm always open to criticism of my work, since I'm a writer everything is experience at the end of the day.


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